Local Comics Shop Day is the latest holiday on the comics calendar, to be held November 28th, the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The date has been promoted as “Small Business Saturday” for a while, but this new date and focus will allow comics shops to tie in to the desire to shop locally and support small business, while kickstarting the holiday buying season. Publishers are lining up with a bevy of limited edition items and “first day of release” edition, many of them visible in the above link. Archie, Marvel, Boom and Valiant are among th publishers who have announced their participation, but here are a couple of items that just crossed our desk:

• Retailer organization ComicsPRO and Image Comics are teaming for a limited edition hardcover collection of the transformation comics BITCH PLANET by Kelly Sue DeConnick (PRETTY DEADLY, Captain Marvel) and artist Valentine De Landro (X-Factor). This special LCSD hardcover edition collects the first five issues of the series and features cover art by Filipe Andrade. It’s limited to 750 copies and somehow we suspect noncompliant readers will want to get a copy. BITCH PLANET has become something of a phenomenon with it’s overtly feminist storyline about a prison planet were women who don’t obey the rules of society are sent.

“We’re thrilled to have Kelly Sue DeConnick, Valentine De Landro, and Image Comics choose Local Comic Shop Day™ as the event to release the first Bitch Planet hardcover,” said Marco Davanzo, ComicsPRO Executive and owner of Alakazam Comics in Irvine, California. “Image Comics continues to be ahead of the curve with originality, quality, and vision.”

“Z2 Comics is delighted to participate in the inaugural Local Comic Shop Day, along with publishers like DC Entertainment, Marvel Entertainment, Image Comics and Dark Horse Comics,” said Z2 Comics Co-Publisher Josh Frankel. “Comic book shops are the nexus of comic book culture and I look forward to Local Comic Shop Day generating becoming an annual event nationwide, just like Record Store Day.”

WE’ve told you about WELCOME TO SHOWSIDE before. it’s th debut title from Z2’s periodical line-up and involves little demon who wants to have fun and not get in on the family business of destroying the world.

Heidi MacDonald is the founder and editor in chief of The Beat. In the past, she worked for Disney, DC Comics, Fox and Publishers Weekly. She can be heard regularly on the More To Come Podcast. She likes coffee, cats and noble struggle.